Boyle back in lineup, Niemi gets start against ex-teammates, Couture’s 7-game point streak

Dan Boyle is back in the lineup tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks, having survived a bout with the stomach flu that swept through his entire family.

“My parents were here and they both had it, my daughters and my wife had it,” the defenseman said. “Not sure what it was, but it ran it’s course.”

So did this create some in-house family issues?

“Yeah, I’m not too pleased with them, but it is what it is, especially with the kids. It’s never pretty,” Boyle joked. “I was the last one to get it so something has to be said about that.”

He said he was feeling good enough to watch Wednesday night’s 4-3 loss to Calgary on television, and while that was a challenge – “It’s always tough to watch regardless, but especially the first 15 minutes were pretty ugly,” Boyle said – it was also an eye-opening reminder of how involved in each game his father can get.

“It was actually interesting, more than anything, was watching a game with my dad, which I hadn’t done in a long time,” Boyle said. “He gets pretty fired up and I feel sorry for my mom, let me tell you. She’s just as competitive, but to have to sit through that 82 times a year would be pretty tough.”

Looking ahead to the Blackhawks, Boyle said he definitely remembered how Chicago’s top line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Viktor Stalberg dominated as San Jose dropped a 4-3 game in the United Center on Jan. 15.

“Not sure who’s going to be playing against them, but whoever does needs to elevate their play,” Boyle said. “They’re one of the top lines in the league and they were significantly better than ours.”

Todd McLellan said he didn’t expect he’d have to limit Boyle’s minutes against the Blackhawks, but it depended “on how he’s feeling and the energy level he has.”

“When he came in this morning he looked pretty good,” the coach said. “I think he’s one guy that can play without having skated for a couple days and fit right in. he’s kind of wired that way and doesn’t need a lot of practice time.”

*****McLellan hedged yesterday, but this morning he said Antti Niemi will get the start tonight against the Blackhawks and, yes, part of the reason has to do with the fact he once held the same job in Chicago.

“We think that he’s played well against them in the past and he’s due for a good game,” McLellan said, “and we believe in him.”

Niemi is 4-2-1 with a .921 save percentage and a 2.59 GAA against his former team since the Blackhawks rejected an abritrator’s ruling and he signed with the Sharks.

But, as McLellan implied, he hasn’t looked sharp his last two games, giving up a combined eight goals in losses to Phoenix and Calgary.

*****McLellan also revisited that Calgary loss, noting that he wants to see a totally different performance from his team.

“Too loose, too many freebies, too many turnovers,” he said, describing what went wrong on Wednesday night. “If we’re playing the way I believe we can, we’ll fix those areas and still be in for a tight game because they’re a group that’s trying to fix their own issues and I’m sure they’ll come out with a lot of fire early in the game. We’ll have to match that.”

The Blackhawks, of course, are on a most uncharacteristic six-game losing streak.

But while McLellan wants his team to tighten up defensively, he has to hope it comes without sacrificing the offense that has been there since the all-star break.

“You fix one and the other breaks down on you, but we can’t be chasing,” he said. “We have to have a complete game. It’s great that we’re finding ways to score three, which is our number, but when you’re giving up four you’re not putting any points in the bank.”

*****Logan Couture said that Chicago’s current problems can’t be a focus for the Sharks.

“We’ve lost two in a row so we need to get our game on track before we worry about the other team,” said Couture, who’s on a seven-game point streak that has seen him pick up 5 goals and 5 assists.

And here’s what he had to say as far as his personal success of late:

“When you’re in a groove like that, the puck kind of follows you around and you get more chances on the ice. You get some prime chances. I’m not sure how many games it’s been, but hopefully I can keep it rolling.”

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

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